Rocket Internet backed e-commerce company Jabong.com is taking a radically different approach to doing business in India. The company, which started off as a pure play online consumer retailer, is now taking the B2B, wooing retailers with solutions such as 3rd party logistics.
In its latest move, Jabong has launched customer services for other e-commerce companies, which means that smaller online retailers will not have to own and operate their own customers service centers but can outsource it to Jabong.
Just a few weeks ago, the company launched JaVAS, a logistics solution similar to Amazon fulfilment services so that other e-commerce players can outsource their logistics to Jabong on a contract basis.
Samwer brothers backed Jabong is courting multiple online retailers to sell their customer service capabilities. Jabong’s customer service team has grown from a team of 20 people to more than 300 people in a short time, according to an e-mail sent to retailers by Jabong.
The service offers less than 5 second response time, defined IT enabled process to handle different queries, real time resolution, email support for customized responses including complaint redressal to resolve customer complaint and structured processes ensuring continuous customer engagement.
To offer end to end services, Jabong says that it will deploy four core teams to handle order confirmation, inbound resolution, retention/sales and complaint/escalation. In addition, the company extends infrastructure facilities to quickly scale up to 100+ member team, 24*7*365 support and advanced processes for almost real-time order confirmations.
Earlier, in this week we reported about Ja VAS, which offers warehousing services, end-mile delivery, reverse logistics, ERP and IT consultancy for online retailers. Currently, the service is in 40 cities and claims to have 70%-80% of the serviceable area in its network.
There aren’t many companies in India which have taken this approach to e-commerce, which is expected to gross $13.5 billion in revenues by 2017. In 2011, Infibeam launched a platform called BuildaBazaar for small businesses to operate online stores and recently started Indent, a technology solution for Music Labels, Brands and OEM.
What are your thoughts on Rocket Internet’s aggressive B2B approach to e-commerce?
